Land disputes are threatening the prospects of post-war reconstruction in Afghanistan. Population growth, returning refugees, opium poppy production, ethnic tension and drought have increased the pressure on the land. A growing number of rural Afghans are either landless or own plots too small for survival. Competition over pasture is leading to armed clashes between nomads and settled farmers. Neither the Karzai government nor the international community is doing enough to restore order to land relations.

Chapter list in HTML, chapters are in PDF formatAlthough recent analyses of land markets show a growing concern for policy and regulatory issues, the literature still lacks a robust framework capable of showing how land markets function, the major policy and regulatory constraints to their efficient operations, and the implications for reform.This chapter is a step in that direction. The first section sets out to characterize land markets -- their emergence, closely associated with the evolution of property rights; major imperfections; and key spatial aspects.

With an estimated 40 percent of people in Africa, South America and Asia living in drylands, land degradation poses a significant threat to food security and survival. This report looks at the relationship between gender and dryland management based on an analysis of field experiences in Africa and Asia. Highlighting the roles of women and men in dryland areas for food security, land conservation/desertification, and the conservation of biodiversity, it makes available key findings on a number of projects and programs in the regions.

Ugandan refugee policy is characterised by the encampment of refugees in designated and enclosed settlements in rural areas, removed from the mainstream economic and political activity of the country.

The economy of post-apartheid South Africa continues to grow. Yet between 45 and 55 percent of the population remain in poverty. This inequality is most obvious in rural areas, where over 70 percent of poor people live. Policymakers are increasingly recognising the importance of rural land reform to poverty reduction.

Recent years have seen pastoralist communities in Tanzania becoming increasingly impoverished and vulnerable, due to  livestock diseases, drought, fluctuating market prices and unfavourable policies. This paper discusses strategies to address the last of these factors with reference to the Ereto-Ngorongoro Pastoralist Project, which was set up in response to growing concern about the unprecedented and rising levels of poverty among pastoralists in Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA).

Working on the premise that in the 21st century there may be two or three times the human population than at the time of writing, this paper explores the concept of sustainable livelihoods. The analysis points to priorities for policy and research, including pricing and taxing policies for the rich that would reduce environmental demand, and further research into small farming systems, local economies and factors influencing migration.
Findings:

Land has historically been a source of dispute and conflict in Rwanda, compounded by the social unrest which resulted in the 1994 genocide. Up to one million people were killed and three million fled to neighbouring countries, leading to weakened political institutions, infrastructure and human capital. Traditional land allocation systems also suffered.

This essay briefly explores South African post-apartheid land reform as a human rights issue. It suggests that land reform has an ethically, politically and strategically important interface with international human rights. This refers both to the context-dependent livelihood role of land and to context-independent principles regarding land ownership and governance, involving several types of rights (allocation, protection, provision, procedure and development). It discusses the merit and limitation of a state-centric perspective on human rights and development.

Overview of a conceptual definition or sustainable land management policies

Brief summary of FAO’s experience in agrarian reform and the most relevant activities of the current programme related to this field. It argues that the type of agrarian reform that considers the redistribution of land from the rich to the poor either through confiscation or through pre-emptive buyouts belongs to the past. However, this does not mean that Member Nations have stopped seeking ways to improve access to productive resources (land, water, etc.) as a cornerstone to their rural development policy.